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Credit-Card Backlash Mounts as Kroger Weighs Expanding Visa Ban

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Re: Credit-Card Backlash Mounts as Kroger Weighs Expanding Visa Ban

#71

Post by kitsunesoba »

lowpro wrote: post #26

I hate credit card fees as much as the next guy, but to be fair my credit card was the only way I could pay for things in Asia since I just lived there for 6 months. If I had used cash, the only ATM near me stole my friends debit card, and multiple people I know were robbed and pick-pocketed. My credit card insulated me from those risks, which I was fine paying an extra 1% for. Now that I’m back in America the risk i…

Yep. The US is reasonably safe in this regard, but I’ve had credit cards skimmed a handful of times. These cases were dealt with with little more than a quick call to custom service, but had it been my debit card that was skimmed, it would’ve been bad news.

For this reason I carry only a small amount of cash (just enough for cash only bars/restaurants) and never carry my debit card. My primary payment method is credit card with an increasing percentage through Apple Pay.

Re: Credit-Card Backlash Mounts as Kroger Weighs Expanding Visa Ban

#72

Post by koolba »

smsm42 wrote: post #68
koolba wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s available in many places in USA as well though everywhere I’ve seen charges a transaction fee which nets it negative for the consumer.

If you have regular rewards card, like 1%-1.5%, sure. But if you have 3% or 5% (I don't know of any card that does it on taxes specifically, but there might be ones where it fits some of the categories) or if you need to fulfill requirement like "spend $X000 in N months and get tons of points" then even with the transaction fee it might actually be a pretty good deal.

I’ve never seen a 5% rewards card for generic purchases. Does that exist?

Re: Credit-Card Backlash Mounts as Kroger Weighs Expanding Visa Ban

#73

Post by pathseeker »

oasisbob wrote: post #59
pathseeker wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you would be surprised at how little cash many places need to operate with in the presence of credit cards. Consider a front desk at a hotel. Thousands of dollars a day in transactions occur via card, which would warrant frequent drops into an expensive safe if they happened with cash. With cards they pretty much only hold a trivial amount to deal with sundries that isn't worth protecting beyond a simple enve…

That hotel is still doing cash accounting though. If there isn't much at the front desk, how about the bar? The restaurant? A business that has any type of daily cash accounting is still going to need to balance the register at the end of the day, reestablish change to open with, have arrangements for transport, &c. Bad employees can still pocket a tenner on occasion. Sure, some smaller places with barely any cash pr…

> That hotel is still doing cash accounting though. If there isn't much at the front desk, how about the bar? The restaurant?

Many hotels have neither of these.

Re: Credit-Card Backlash Mounts as Kroger Weighs Expanding Visa Ban

#75

Post by toomuchtodo »

chiph wrote: post #25

I like my rewards Visa more than I like Kroger. Good luck with that ban, guys.

Kroger has most likely done the math with their Kroger rewards program (which has historical payment data), and has determined most people won't care and will switch to debit or a non-Visa CC network instead.

Re: Credit-Card Backlash Mounts as Kroger Weighs Expanding Visa Ban

#77

Post by toomuchtodo »

koolba wrote: post #72
smsm42 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have regular rewards card, like 1%-1.5%, sure. But if you have 3% or 5% (I don't know of any card that does it on taxes specifically, but there might be ones where it fits some of the categories) or if you need to fulfill requirement like "spend $X000 in N months and get tons of points" then even with the transaction fee it might actually be a pretty good deal.

I’ve never seen a 5% rewards card for generic purchases. Does that exist?

Only for rotating spend categories. Sometimes you have to jump through hoops to activate those categories.

Re: Credit-Card Backlash Mounts as Kroger Weighs Expanding Visa Ban

#78

Post by [deleted] »

cycrutchfield wrote: post #62
Dwolb wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine if you ran a $1B/year business with 10% profit margins and Visa took 2% of revenues. Profit before Visa is $100M, profit after Visa is $80M. If you negotiated Visa’s fees down to 1.5%, profit after Visa would be $85M. This is a 6% improvement in operating profit which is a lot.

Imagine if you ran a $1B/year business with 10% profit margins and 20% of your customers only have one credit card, a Visa. Profit before Visa is $100M, profit after Visa is $80M.

[deleted]

Re: Credit-Card Backlash Mounts as Kroger Weighs Expanding Visa Ban

#79

Post by astura »

pathseeker wrote: post #73
oasisbob wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That hotel is still doing cash accounting though. If there isn't much at the front desk, how about the bar? The restaurant? A business that has any type of daily cash accounting is still going to need to balance the register at the end of the day, reestablish change to open with, have arrangements for transport, &c. Bad employees can still pocket a tenner on occasion. Sure, some smaller places with barely any cash pr…

> That hotel is still doing cash accounting though. If there isn't much at the front desk, how about the bar? The restaurant? Many hotels have neither of these.

And sometimes they are totally independent businesses just renting the space. A friend of mine owns a Holiday Inn restaurant.

Re: Credit-Card Backlash Mounts as Kroger Weighs Expanding Visa Ban

#80

Post by astura »

koolba wrote: post #72
smsm42 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have regular rewards card, like 1%-1.5%, sure. But if you have 3% or 5% (I don't know of any card that does it on taxes specifically, but there might be ones where it fits some of the categories) or if you need to fulfill requirement like "spend $X000 in N months and get tons of points" then even with the transaction fee it might actually be a pretty good deal.

I’ve never seen a 5% rewards card for generic purchases. Does that exist?

The BBVA NBA AMEX used to earn 5% cash back twice a year. I would pay six months worth of phone, internet, insurance, etc upfront during that time.

The 5% was eventually capped and the card no longer exists.

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